Airship Mauled

by Darkonshadows

Chapter Eleven, Blueblood Bandits: Permission commandeer.

-Maries-

Joining parade right about… now!

From the alleyway, we marched out into the parade started by Jade and were not caught up by the music or the magical effects. Of course we were wearing the parade dragon costume and marching along with everyone else. We were not stupid enough to enter the parade as ourselves, we’d be a major target when the music eventually stopped and we were needed for other things.

Our job was to make sure nothing knocked Jade out of her ability to keep the magical parade going, it was all so… interesting. We had never seen a parade, much less been a part of one and the most we knew is that Jade was mostly safe as long as she kept playing.

The fireworks were quite pretty and we got a chance to see them as Marie peeking out from under the costume to watch them for us. We even saw a glimpse of Fizzle galloping and majestically leaping across the rooftops.

It was amazing for us to be a part of a thing much larger than us like this and have it not be of grave importance to our clan’s survival, we would even say it is… fun.

It was surprising that the marchers just let us into their formation without question, the ones that were the guards were too busy glaring hard at Jade to really notice us. The musicians just kept playing and marching along, there were quite a lot of ponies watching us as we meandered down the street slowly.

We were bestial enough for the magical effects to not bother us in the same way that had all the ponies entrapped by it marching along to the tune. We didn’t exactly know how to feel about that. As Jade’s backup, Maria was watching the killer marching along behind our prospective mate.

Once upon a time we might have thought ourselves killers, but we were more than that now and we could hardly go back. Killers in civilization didn’t eat their kill and only killed for a goal that did not further society as it was, only sometimes was that ever truly the outcome.

We did not believe killing our prospective mate would further society. That kind of killer didn’t follow nature or civilization. Killing as a means for them was different, they were abhorrent and aberrant to us... we used to be almost just like them. At least we didn’t leave the body to rot or waste away, all chimera respected their kills. When we killed, it was to serve the purpose of filling our stomachs as nature intends. No longer needing to do that, we could focus on so many other things.

I, Mara, was keeping us in line with the parade and making sure we kept up and were moving at the same pace with everyone else. We were not following the parade against our will nor were we being forced to march, thankfully nobody has yet noticed the discrepancy of our presence.

Also we got close enough to use the rubber chicken and Marie had done her part in using it, thankfully nobody took notice of it.

-Kuril-

“I hope you two are ready to board The Gilded Buttress! Take the wheel Jacky.” I released the wheel and my parrot daughter grabbed a hold of it. “Fly towards one end of the docks and be prepared to circle around, it’s time to use the illusion dust!”

My kitten was quite happy to hear that I had learned how to make this stuff from our guest Zecora and it was really fun stuff to use too. Completely harmless, but it could create ghostly images in the air and will make just about anyone see things.

What I was doing was preventing anyone from seeing the ship going missing. If I could scare some guards away, then that would be helpful too.

I was a true witch now and happen to be living the dream, I wasn’t about to be bored with magic anytime soon.

I moved over to the big bag at the back of The Ardent Survivor and waited as we circled around. Once turned around and heading towards one edge of the docks, I opened the bag. I sustained this bag myself for the self-sustaining properties of keeping the illusion dust fresh.

Tilting it over the side, the air was now being filled with green dust slowly falling towards the docks and several shapes were already forming.

No, the amount of illusion dust we were currently using was most certainly not overkill. Even if it started creating a hazy green colored fog over all of the docks that would follow my will and scare everyone except us away. I started cackling in an evil manner… maybe it was just a bit over the top.

Once the docks were completely covered I took back the wheel and turned to Jacky and Arizona.

“Okay girls, I’m positioning us above the ship.” It didn’t take us long and I brought the airship to a stop above The Gilded Buttress which still had ponies on it. Some of which were screaming and jumping overboard as several frightening phantasms chased after them. “Jacky, Arizona, you’re on!”

-Jacky-

With my spear and bow equipped, I grabbed the rope and tugged it sharply twice to make sure it didn’t snap when I put any amount of weight on it. I jumped off the side of the ship and began slowly sliding down the rope.

I let go and fell onto the deck behind the shivering pony who stiffened up and slowly turned his head to me.

“Boo.” I wasn’t that scary and I expected him to buck me in the face, instead he screamed like a mare and jumped overboard. That guy was last seen running into the green fog.

The illusion dust must have spooked him fiercely, he looked like a regular crew member and not a royal guard. I pulled my spear out and looked about, I was saving my arrows for when the fog cleared up.

I heard the sound of shredding metal, I turned holding my spear at the ready and then lowered it.

“Yahoo!” Two royal guards were missing their armor and were looking quite scared before they were both sent flying towards the city by Arizona ramming into them with her horns. She may be young, but Arizona had a lot of muscle in her. I don’t think I even knew her or Grace’s story, they just showed up at Airship Mauled one day and needed help. So they took the inn. “Come on Jacky, pick up the pace! I’ll clear out the ship, you work on getting it flying.”

She seemed rather excited about all this, I looked at the deck and dragged the tip of my spear across the wood.

It wasn’t wood… the deck was made of painted over gold too. Talk about hiding riches hidden in plain sight, this expensive piece of heavy junk had better fly.

There were quite a few ponies screaming and running to jump overboard, the illusion dust was doing wonders in cutting down the numbers we had to deal with. It was either that or Arizona was terrifying in how she could rip through their enchanted armor like tissue paper.

I made my way towards the steering on this ship which was a cabin at the back of the ship, it was a indoor piloting. I stopped at the door when I saw it slam open and took cover around the corner, a winged pony flew away from the door and out into the fog.

The look on his face was that of sheer terror. In the distance I could hear the parade still going strong and could see several flashes of light through the eerie fog. I think Fizzle will have lit the last of them soon. We had about ten minutes to commandeer this vessel and get it out of here.

“Cowards the lot of you, it’s just some powerful illusion!” The armored unicorn screamed, he was wearing royal guard armor and he looked like one scrawny unicorn. “There’s no real danger here!”

I quietly swapped my spear out for the bow, I pulled out an arrow from the quiver on my tail and nock it to take aim.

The pony grunted angrily and turned around to go back in.

I let the arrow go and… it didn’t shoot straight or hit the pony in the head.

My blunted arrow instead spun end over end and the tail of it slapped him roughly across the flank making him yelp. I just gave my bow a disappointed look, how in the world does that even keep happening?!

I’ve hit just about everyone in Airship Mauled in the butt like that, my Captain’s response to it was just give me a saucy look as if she’d eat me alive. That memory made me shiver violently.

I ducked around the corner and some magic splashed off the wall and made a shockwave that knocked me down, I also heard him grunt as he was hit by his own shockwave. Didn’t Jade say something about gold being magically reactive? I can understand maybe using gold for the engine in that case, but the whole darn ship was made of painted over gold!

I couldn’t let him cast any more magic, a blast of magic fired through a green illusionary image of myself and he growled. I peeked around the corner, he saw movement and another illusionary copy of me dodged a shot while sticking its out tongue.

Okay, this illusion dust stuff was really nifty!

This guy seemed to be able to react to movement swiftly as he tried to shoot away several more illusions of me, but only as long as he can see it coming or moving within his field of view. That obviously included peripheral.

I heard a scream and looked towards front of the ship to see Arizona slinging an earth pony overboard with her lasso. I couldn’t get distracted… I had to get the balloon filled up and prepared for launch.

“Show yourself!” The stallion apparently didn’t like my illusion dust doubles. I nock another arrow and peeked around the same corner again, he wasn’t that bright. “There you are!”

I pulled my head back and a bolt fly pasts me. Another shockwave rocks the ship when it strikes the deck, this sent Arizona tumbling. How would I get him without him taking another shot at me? Oh idea! He was quick to shoot, but what if he shot at something else?

“I don’t know who you are, but if you think you can take this ship. Then it will be over my...” He jumped around the corner and didn’t see me. “Dead body? You don’t know who you’re messing with, I’m Lieutenant Skeet Shoot and I can hit anything that’s moving!”

I fired an arrow straight up, he aimed his magic towards the sky and hit the arrow. I jumped from the cabin's roof while he was distracted by the arrow and came down smashing my bow over his head with a two-handed swing.

My bow was undamaged, that helmet of his on the other talon had crumpled and was knocked clean off. He staggered around on his hooves, I quickly grabbed his horn and slammed his head roughly into the deck. His eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he fainted with an agonized groan.

Okay that was the cabin secure… and the arrow I fired as a distraction just rammed its way into my tail feathers. Of course it did. I sighed and carefully wrenched it out of my tail feathers and smoothed them out.

“What in the world was with that shockwave Chick?” I looked to the brown and white furred tough cow dully as she bucked two more ponies off the ship.

“That is something that will become a problem if there are any other unicorns still around, toss him off the ship and don’t let any unicorns use magic around here!” I went into the cabin and started hitting a few things, the controls for flight were on and now I had to get this ugly ship out of the docks. I felt dirty just knowing I would be piloting this thing. “I’ll get started on preparing us for flight, finish up and take care of the moorings while you’re at it!”

I soon exited the cabin and got started on inflating the balloon, I had to go check on the engine room next and while I was on my way to go below deck I heard a shout. Turning I saw a lightly armored pegasus mare coming right for me, only she was tackled out of the air by a cloaked figure. Her face was struck harshly with a left hoof, she was knocked out.

“The parade is out of fireworks and has about ten more minutes scheduled, Jade is getting pretty tired out there. We need this massive weight in the air like yesterday Jacky!” Fizzle was gasping and sweating quite a bit, but at least she was speaking clearly and concisely. “The illusion dust isn't going to last that much longer either. I am so tired, it’s like I ran several miles in the last twenty minutes.”

“I’d say about one, with all the firework points you had to hit across the city to attract attention to the parade.” I watched her lay down to catch her breath.

“Oh no, no, no, wait!” A unicorn went flying quite far overboard after having his horn released from Arizona’s teeth. We heard him slap the ground in the fog roughly and he squealed a bit.

“The ship is entirely clear Chick!” It seems Arizona took care of most of our problems. “How are we for flying?”

“The ship is not floating well enough yet. Fizzle, I need to check the engine room, can you steer?” She nodded to me and I turned to Arizona. “Better yet, can you somehow get a message up to Kuril to bring The Ardent Survivor around so we can tie a line to it? We don’t have enough time to wait for the balloon to inflate fully, we’re going to tow it out of here!”

“I can get a message to Kuril...” We turned to Fluttershy who blushed and looked away from us shyly.

“Then do it!” I started below deck and ran for the engine room, I snatched up a box of tools on the way.

-Maries-

I hopped onto the ship with my captive, nobody had noticed us grabbing her out of the parade and they really didn’t notice that the fake dragon left the parade. Once we reached the green fog, we had quickly ditched our costume and scared any pony we met on our way to the ship.

Marie was wrapped around the unconscious killer, keeping her on our back. Jade had signaled for us to snatch her and we did, she was now our captive for the foreseeable future.

“Jade signaled that she can’t make it out!” Maria informed everyone as loudly as she could. “Too many guards are following her.”

“Don’t worry about it Maries, remember Jade already had a plan for this. She just needs her, ‘legal experts’, to help her when she's put on trial.” Fizzle turned to us as she said that. “Until then she’s going to start quite a huge hissy fit to give us some more time!”

Comments

[Shadowshame]

That unicorn must of had pretty good purrifural vision